Three Wishes
by Teh Pocky Ninja
Summary: Wishes are created when children are allowed to dream. Though we may be but children, we can wish for the impossible as many times as it takes to make our dreams a reality. Team 7 fluff to the tenth power, clouds without Naras, implied SasuSaku.


**Three Wishes...**

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_1. I wish I could be a better kunoichi so I could help out my teammates more often, instead of just backing them up._

_2. I wish Naruto learned to study more, and Kakashi-sensei learned to be on time._

_3. I wish Sasuke would let me be his friend._

Sasuke Uchiha gazed at the yellow piece of paper in his hand. Kakashi had told them to write their top three wishes earlier that day. This little catalog could only be Sakura's.

He was amazed, though he'd never show it, that she hadn't written "I wish Sasuke would fall in love with me and marry me," or something equally as stupid.

She had just written about friendship…that struck him as odd, yet…strangely enough, he felt better reading it. It didn't mean she'd given up on him, she had just learned to be a little more realistic. She still liked him, it was exceedingly obvious. But she was wishing for something…less impossible.

She'd probably get upset if she found out he had read it. He stuffed the paper in his pocket, glancing up at his teammates as they lay on the grass.

Kakashi was snoring in the shade of a tree, his trashy book draped across his ever-concealed face. Naruto lay on his back, his eyes closed, grinning as he basked in the sunlight. Sakura, sitting next to him, sat cross-legged and stared at the clouds as the wind slowly blew them across the azure sky.

Unlike the constant hectic pace of days when they had missions, the team's days off were profoundly peaceful. Even if Naruto never did manage to shut up for more than three seconds at any given time.

"Oi teme, quit being a stick and get over here."

"What?" he murmured indifferently, scooting a few feet over to his teammates.

Naruto grinned, his right index finger extended towards the sky. "Check it out."

Above them floated a fluffy white cloud distantly resembling the shape of their sensei's head.

Sakura giggled, the sound vaguely reminiscent of a bird's chirping. So she'd already forgotten the day's writing assignment. Good.

Silence settled over the team again, and if not for their identifying headbands one could almost mistake them for no more than a group of normal children. Nothing of the bright, cheery exteriors each wore gave suspicion of the trained fighters lurking below their innocent disguises.

_See beneath the beneath, eh?_

"…I see…a teacup."

He turned his head in confusion, only catching the tail end of his teammates' conversation.

Naruto's eyes squinted as his gaze remained fixed on the sky before murmuring, "I see…a bird."

"Over there! A candle!" added Sakura, her fight index finger pointed skywards.

Not noticing her crush's head turning away again, reminded of the innocent days he'd played this very game with the one he'd once called family.

"Sakura-chan?"

"Mh-hm?"

"Call me crazy, but…I see us up there."

"Where?"

This statement, despite its absurdity, intrigued both of the blonde's fellow Genin.

"Over there. See? That wispy one is you, and that one over there is teme, and I'm all the way over there…Hey! That's not fair! How come I'm so far away from Sakura-chan?!"

"I…I see it," she whispered, her jade eyes fixed on the blob of clouds previously described. "But…Naruto's all the way on the other side…"

Sasuke remained quiet, able to see the mentioned image by tilting his head at an angle. There indeed was a wobbly-shaped Naruto, with his moronic grin and fist pumped up in exhilaration. There was Sakura, one of her hands waving at any who might be viewing the foggy portrait.

Her other hand, clearly visible, was grasped within that of a cloud-boy with spiked hair and a pouting frown. From the look on the real Sakura's face, she'd noticed it all too well.

"Wow…" she whispered, a tint of pink appearing on her face. "It's…amazing, isn't it, Sasuke-kun?"

"…Hmph," he'd muttered, suddenly unable to articulate his tongue enough for a more eloquent response. His cloud self had just wrapped a possessive arm around the cloud Sakura's waist, though from a different angle the merged forms could look something like a sailboat…

"Hey, look at that!" Naruto exclaimed, "It's a boat!"

He didn't know why he was suddenly relieved as Sakura's head tilted the other way, obscuring their cloud selves from view for now.

"Yeah, I see it…"

Again there was stillness, the sound of voices replaced with the wind rustling through tree leaves and grass. A peaceful noise, sharply contrasting to the clink of metal on metal and the pounding noise of a heartbeat in one's ears during a mission…

"Meh…I'm hungry," complained Naruto, breaking the serenity of the moment.

"…You know, so am I," agreed Sakura. "It's probably noon anyway…Time for a lunch break?"

"Yeah!" exclaimed the blonde, already jumping to his feet. "Whaddya say, guys? Ramen or ramen?"

"So predictable," teased his female teammate. "But…What about you, Sasuke-kun?"

Ignoring the look of envy he received from the dobe, Sasuke genuinely thought about the proposition. He hadn't eaten since breakfast early that morning, and somehow lying around in the sun seemed to have worked up an appetite…

"…Fine," he murmured, not at all oblivious to the look of delight on Sakura's face. The three of them were soon on their feet, unanimously deciding to leave their teacher be as he couldn't be bothered to supervise them properly.

"I'm getting a pork bowl!" announced Naruto as the three of them commenced the walk to the famous noodle stand. "Or maybe two, or three…or six…heh-heh…"

"I think…well…maybe just a small bowl," murmured Sakura. "I don't have enough money with me today for anything bigger…"

"I'll pay for it."

Both of them turned and stared in disbelief at their dark-haired companion.

"R-…really, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura whispered, her eyes sparkling. "That's so nice! Oh, you're the best, Sasuke-kun!"

"He's probably an alien," muttered the blonde, unwilling to admit he had wanted to buy Sakura's lunch that day, but lacked adequate funds to do so. "Call us when the _real_ Sasuke-teme gets back home."

"You're just jealous," she teased, sticking her tongue out at him and giggling.

_…We really are just children…_

"All you ever think about is ramen, Naruto. That and being Hokage."

"Nuh-uh! I think about other stuff too!"

_Try as they might to mold us into killers, we can't change the fact that we're just kids…_

"Come on, Sasuke-teme! You're falling behind!"

"Coming."

_Wish one: That someday I will be strong enough to overcome my adversaries._

Two of them laughed at a joke. One merely chuckled on the inside.

_Wish two: That someday I will marry and have a family, bringing back my clan from extinction._

"Let's go, Sasuke-kun! Naruto's going to get there first and there won't be any left!

Slender fingers wrapped around a bony wrist, and three children dashed off to the musical sound of footsteps and breathless smiles.

_Wish three:…_

Overhead, the clouds continued to drift, free of direction as their forms' replicas lived on miles below.

_…That I will always have friends like my teammates._

Wishes don't need magic to be granted.

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Fluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuff.

Yeah.


End file.
